


A New Home

by Jebbler



Series: E.T Au [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Memory Loss, Multi, Rehabilitation Au, non abusive jaspis, peridot loves food, she will coNSUME, yes peridot's an asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 06:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4381220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jebbler/pseuds/Jebbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lapis, Jasper, and Peridot are unfortunately stuck in Beach City. One is too afraid to leave, another has lost their memory, and the last one is out of ideas.</p><p>A.K.A: The Homeworld Gems attempt to learn about humanity and Earth through the kindness offered from Beach City residents</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Peridot Is Stuck

Peridot is stuck, mentally and psychically.

There is no telling how she found herself in this hole. One minute she had been narrowly escaping the Crystal Clods and flying carelessly over what looked to be a town. The next she'd been in a fucking hole. Maybe her arms short circuited mid-air? She'd been meaning to run a maintenance check on them before those rebel gems stormed her from behind. Had she no safe place on this forsaken planet!?

Mentally she was just lost.

All of her plans had been exhausted, all the small escape paths that had been hidden on Earth were gone, and there was no way home in sight. It was enough to make a lesser gem cry.

But Peridot wasn't crying- she was _sobbing_. Sobbing like a gemling who hadn't had but a speck of dirt to ingest since their developing. It was an ugly sound that Peridot was all together unaccustomed to making, but it was therapeutic at best.

"Hey is someone crying?"

Peridot stalled in fear. Fear of the Crystal Gems, fear of Earth's many unkind beasts.

"Yeah, hey Jenny there's someone in this ditch over here!"

It was a deep voice that seemed to drone the more it went on. It wasn't too unfriendly to Peridot's ears but she couldn't imagine a face to match the voice.

"Oh my god, are you okay!?"

A higher, raspier, one this time, coming from directly over the ditch. Peridot hurried to clean herself up, wipe away the tears from behind her visor, but whenever she looked up at the human- no humans - that were talking she immediately clammed up and all the spiteful comments died in her throat. There were three beasts in all, and she knew she couldn't take them in a fight, if the Steven was anything to be believed, there would be more humans in the case of these humans deaths. It was a bad idea all around.

"Yes. Just...Stuck." Peridot's voice was scratchy from the violent cry she'd just had but the others heard her well enough.

"Hang on, we're gonna get you a rope, Buck stay with her," The lighter voiced human ran away with the white haired one, leaving only one who Peridot presumed to be 'Buck'.

"Hey," He grunted, adjusting his sunglasses. He reminded Peridot of the Garnet, although to be fair he was far less psychically imposing than her.

Peridot nodded at him.

"What's your name?"

"Excuse me?" Peridot wasn't at all used to being talked to so casually, on Homeworld everything was so efficient and clean. Everyone would know her name just by looking at her forehead anyways.

"Your name, like the thing you go by, mine's Buck."

"Oh, uh Peridot."

"Nice," He nodded again, "So how'd you get down there?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Cool."

The silence was heavy, but Peridot didn't want to reveal her horrible shortcomings to this new person. She wouldn't even talk about it to someone she knew well. It was all just so embarrassing! To not even have control of her body parts is a thing she'd hoped to never happen to her.

After a period of awkwardness the other two returned, panting only slightly.

"We got a rope now Ms...?" The white haired one trailed off.

"Her name's Peridot," Buck answered for her and she was silently grateful for it.

"Rad, like the gemstone. I'm a Peridot too."

Peridot looked up at the human in confusion, searching for his gemstone. He had...Odd colored skin if he was indeed like her. Odd enough for Peridot to be concerned, did he have some sort of illness?

"He means like a birthstone. He's SourCream and I'm Jenny," The girl said, tossing one end of the rope carelessly over the edge, nearly hitting Peridot with the end, "Sorry!"

All three of them grabbed the other end of the rope and asked Peridot to climb up. This was a difficult task at first because of Peridot's lack of upper body strength, but the others somehow sensed this and gave a little more pull on their end. Eventually Peridot was up on even ground and happier for it.

"We just like, saved someone's life." Buck said to the group.

SourCream nodded, almost sagely, "Yeah we should probably celebrate."

"S'long as it's not with pizza," Jenny made an...Uncomfortable face, "You down for whatever P-dot?"

Peridot had no clue what pizza was and what this Jenny had against it but then again she wasn't really listening at all. She had been staring at the long grass like stuff that was growing in abundance. It would be so easy to escape and run away from these humans and their annoying ways of speaking, but it was also a thought that made her tired. Inexplicably tired, as if she'd just been in a fight.

Peridot didn't want to run anymore, and it's not like she could fly what with her copter hands broken and all. It'd take some time to fix those and whatever parts of her that the Crystal Gems had damaged in their last fight. Besides, she didn't know what was out there, she was completely lost and a little scared. If these humans wanted to take her somewhere- then why not!? It's not the strangest thing that's happened to her since landing on this excuse for a planet.

"...Peridot?"

The gem was snapped back to consciousness when her name was mentioned, "Yes. I'm...'Down with whatever'."

After being shown to a 'car' and being told (and by an extent shown how) to buckle up, Peridot knew it was a metaphor of some sort. Probably something dumb like 'The snap of the seat belt signifies me being stuck on this planet forever'.

* * *

After the car ride back to town, there had been plenty of discourse (none from Peridot mind you) about what place to eat at. The Pizza restaurant had been struck out preemptively. There was talk about a fry place from Jenny but then Buck and SourCream cut her off with a shuddering protest. Apparently all that was left had been a donut shop called 'The Big Donut'.

Peridot had been shuffled into a seat and when asked what she wanted she had no idea how to respond except for 'I'm down with whatever', which still sounded incredibly foreign on her tongue. While waiting Peridot looked at her surroundings, there wasn't much to the place to begin with. Just a couple of fridges and tables which were empty. It occurred to her that they were the only ones there, excluding the two other humans working at the counter.

When they got back, Peridot had noticed the two counter humans staring at her incredulously, well one of them was, the taller one was staring at her companions with a sort of...Leering wonder in his eyes. She was handed the two donuts that she was given 'on the house' as Buck had said. Apparently the taller one was so flustered around the group that he'd been inclined to just give them stuff for free.

Humans were fucking weird.

Peridot glared at the two foodstuffs in front of her. Of course she'd been presented with food before, but it was just experimental food. Back on Homeworld food was a weird commodity that was considered addictive to some gems and therefore mainly illegal. Those in her ranks would not be caught dead with food. Peridot hadn't even had any in her wild college days where she'd done many daring things (like code outside of Yellow Diamond's guidelines). Food was something she was slightly afraid of.

"What, you scared?" Jenny said, putting that _stuff_   in her mouth as if it were nothing.

"N-No! I just," How could she put this in terms that these obviously block headed humans could understand? "Where I'm from we don't have stuff like this."

Jenny was flabbergasted, SourCream was confused, but Buck had just nodded understandingly.

"You're Amish right?" Buck had said, and once again Peridot thanked her multiple god's for him.

"Yes! I'm that. Exactly."

SourCream shook his head, "Man, must be hard. You're like on that journey thing right? This is apart of your 'self-discovery or something?"

Peridot realized she'd dug herself into metaphorical hole. Although this one was slightly better than the one she'd been in hours earlier.

"...Yes. I'm on a journey of self discovery. Like...Discovering what a doughnut tastes like. And. Other things."

The whole table went silent as Peridot picked the doughnut up and took a small bite, chewing cautiously.

Peridot paused. Hell her entire mind paused. Is this what food was like? No wonder there were gems willing to kill for it back home. It was so sweet and like, sort of warm? She caught herself wanting to shove the entire thing in her mouth. It was as if her gem was absorbing the taste directly, an absurd thought but that's what it felt like.

Jenny stared at her expectantly, "So, how was it?"

"Amazing," Peridot said in spite of herself. It wasn't a lie and she began to devour the one in her hand and work on the other one.

Buck smirked, "My feelings exactly P-dot," He began eating his doughnut (although his had tiny colorful sparkles on it and Peridot felt herself getting strangely jealous), "If I had to go without donuts I'd probably like. Cry. Maybe."

The table had been enjoying the rest of their food, sometimes starting small snippets of conversations that Peridot wouldn't join in on out of confusion on the topic as a whole. Seriously, what even is a rave and why does it cause laughter?

"So, how'd you get down there in the first place?" SourCream asked, being punched lightly in the shoulder by Buck as if to stop him from asking. But it was too late and Peridot could feel the looks from the group boring into her.

"Uh. Well. I'd been...Walking away from my shelter," Peridot tried to work her story into something human, or atleast moderately so. She was unaware of how much a human can or cannot do, but she did know that they couldn't fly on their hands.

"The Amish shelter?" Buck piped in for a third time, Peridot warming up to him each and every time.

"Yeah that. I was walking away to...Discover myself. And then I was attacked," Peridot went on, grabbing the unfinished half of SourCream's doughnut. Without even asking.

"Woah what?" SourCream said, the surprise coming out weirdly with his way of speaking, "By who?"

Peridot shuddered to think of them, but decided to not mention or at least skirt around them. It wasn't exactly a normal human thing to be pursued by a group of magical clods, "Some assholes with weapons, they've been chasing me since I left the...Amish shelter. I think they want something from me," Peridot finished off the doughnut with a lick of her fingers, "I escaped this time by hiding in that ditch."

It wasn't entirely a lie.

Jenny sat back, "That's heavy."

"Are they still after you? How can we help?" Buck asked, not raising his tone to indicate the slight level of concern he had for Peridot.

Help? Peridot did need help. Help with many things, but she couldn't see these humans having the ability to give it to her in the slightest of ways.

"Well, I could use a place to stay while I...Recover and figure out a plan," Peridot had almost said, 'fix my helicopter hands and anything else that got broke' but that wouldn't have been human at all would it?

They all looked at each other, but Jenny was the one who spoke, "Uh-uh, no. I do not have any room at my place, don't even ask."

The other two nodded in agreement and were about to say something similar when the small doughnut human from behind the counter spoke up.

"Um, I know someone that could help with that."

 


	2. Defusion

Lapis struggled with Jasper's chains, much like everyday she'd been Malachite and everyday after this one. Although it wasn't Jasper that was making it hard, not anymore at least.

At some point the constant fight of having Jasper as her prisoner had turned into a mutual battle against Malachite herself. Both of their efforts going towards creating a balance and keeping Malachite stable. Sometimes, though, Jasper was too strong for her own good and Lapis found herself having to pull harder on the chains in return.

At first Lapis hadn't noticed the instant slack on the chains, or the water encasing her body. It was like waking up from a particularly immersive dream, one that had been induced by too much sleep. It was a new sensation (well, feeling things in general was quite new to her) and she was just as shocked as Jasper might've been to find herself free at the bottom of the ocean, colorful coral and fish surrounding her.

_Jasper._

Lapis frantically looked around her, searching for even a tuft of the larger gem's hair, when a small glittering stone had caught her attention. It had been Jasper, Lapis knew even before swimming towards her and grabbing the gem from its watery suspension.

Why had Lapis stayed put together? Why did Malachite even break apart? Had Jasper's psychical form finally give out from the exertion?

"I think I heard her over here!" A voice, no matter how diluted by the water, caught Lapis' attention. Was that one of the Crystal Gems?

It didn't matter who the voice belonged to, Lapis' body had been frozen with fear just by hearing it. She couldn't explain why anxiety had grasped her like this, it just did. Like, something horrible would befall her and her companion if they stayed there longer.

Clutching Jasper to her chest, Lapis escaped the voice and the cold fear that had overtaken her.

* * *

In hindsight, running in one direction with no particular goal in sight (this direction also being away from her main source of power) wasn't a good plan. It wasn't even in Lapis' top ten of plans, most of which she'd exhausted over the course of her imprisonment(s).

Lapis had ended up far away from the voice and the beach, finding herself in a city. It was night and she had been thankful for that. All the humans were gone and wouldn't see the odd, soaked, girl who was clutching a gem to her chest and panting as if she'd just been in a fight (and lost).

The city was one she recognized though. It was the same one that Steven had taken her around that fateful day, the one that marked the ending (for a period of time atleast) of her imprisonment. Lapis glanced around, accidentally bringing herself down with that thought. She missed Steven, but there was no way she could talk to him with the threat of the Crystal Gems looming over them.

She'd taken to walking the streets, staying carefully away from the lights (for a reason she couldn't quite explain) and looking around at the buildings. Already, Lapis had missed the water, not caring if it too had taken her prisoner. She missed the pull of the tide and how free she felt (that was pretty ironic). Lapis considered going back but one glance at the carefully pulsating gem in her hand made her think otherwise.

There was no way she'd go back into possible danger with Jasper being like this. It was a gem's most vulnerable state and it would feel...Weird? Terrible? To put someone in danger like that. But Lapis couldn't just dump Jasper somewhere (although there were a few choice trashcans along the sidewalk she could take advantage of). Maybe that was out of respect? They had been through a lot together. Lapis didn't know when it happened, but at some point she was sure they both considered Malachite to be some sort of 'mutual fuck-up'.

So the least Lapis could do (or so she thought) was tote Jasper a couple of blocks through Beach City and find some pleasant place for her to regenerate in.

"The Big Donut? No, someone would probably step on her..." Lapis took to reasoning with herself, "Maybe someone's house?"

As far as Lapis knew, humans were trustworthy. Or more trustworthy than any gem she'd ever come across. Steven was a shining example of a person that restored both her faith in gemkind and gave her a sense of what humans were like. Then again, Steven could just be an exception for both sides...

When Lapis looked up again and left her thoughts she found herself out of the boardwalk and in some kind of residential area. Or atleast she thought, humans were so weird sometimes. The point is, is that there were houses and that was good.

Gripping tighter to Jasper's gem, Lapis found the first place with a fenced in backyard and inspected it. It honestly looked kind of boring. Nothing there cept for a broken down swing set that obviously hadn't been used in a long time and some uniform looking hedges. But, maybe boring was good.

Lapis held Jasper's gem up to the backyard and sarcastically muttered, "Pulse twice if you're fine with it," Before throwing Jasper into the nearest hedge.

* * *

After, leaving Jasper in (what she had hoped) were good hands, Lapis made her way silently back to the ocean. It was almost dawn and she feared interaction with the Beach City residents.

Combing the seaside carefully, Lapis found that her attackers had given up and left. Of course, she didn't go anywhere near the temple (where she assumed her would-be-pursuers lived) but instead stayed near the docks.

The docks, were huge and, thankfully, close to the ocean. It was probably the only safe place in all of Beach City for Lapis and the more she explored under them the more attached she found herself. There were even a couple of tiny crabs and then some even smaller crabs wearing pretty shells ontop of their bodies. Lapis sat and watched them for a while, sometimes poking at them. It was amusing when they scuttled away from her hand.

Suddenly, her entire body tensed up. There was someone watching her- she knew it. Slowly, cautiously, she looked behind her, fearing whoever it was.

"...Hello?" Lapis didn't dare move, judging whether this newcomer was friendly or if she needed to flee.

The person in question was a small child (smaller than Steven) with a tuft of blonde hair. He was holding a bag with a smiling potato chip on them, occasionally reaching in and eating some. He raised a hand (a peaceful gesture?) then offered Lapis a handful of chips.

"Oh, uh. No thanks," Lapis, having figured that this child wasn't of any concern to her, waved away his hand. On Homeworld she had some friends that had been really into eating, but it was never her thing despite experimenting with food before.

The child shrugged and sat down next to Lapis, looking out towards the sea. He seemed to be...Waiting for something. Lapis didn't have any reservations about him anymore so she just went back to crab watching, giggling whenever one looked at her. They had such funny eyes!

After an hour the child hadn't left and Lapis was beginning to get used to his presence, even trying to start a conversation with him from time to time, but his eyes stayed trained on the horizon. He wasn't as talkative as Steven that's for sure.

So it was when the child started poking her shoulder and gesturing wildly towards the ocean that Lapis knew something was up.

"What? Is there something out there?" Lapis tried shielding her eyes but all she saw was the rising sun and...Oh. OH!

It was beautiful, the Earth's sun was so large, larger than all of Homeworld's eight suns, and although she'd seen it before, Lapis had never experienced it with such...Intensity! The ocean did something to the sun's rays though, made them splay across the land and reach into the depth of the sea, distorting them in wonderful ways. For a being that didn't need to breathe, Lapis found the sight to be absolutely breathtaking.

The kid was looking at her now, expectantly.

"Is this what you wanted to show me, what you've been waiting for?" Lapis was still dazed and found it hard to keep her eyes away from the scene in front of her.

He nodded and then began writing something in the wet sand between them, Lapis struggled to read it at first but began to see letters and eventually a word.

"Onion?"

The boy pointed to himself and nodded once.

"Your name is Onion?" Well it wasn't the strangest name she's ever heard, but whose to say that wasn't normal among humans? "My name's Lapis Lazuli," To be honest she was glad to finally be communicating with this Onion.

"Thank you for showing me this," Lapis gestured out to the ocean but when she turned the sight had disappeared, the sun being near it's normal spot in the sky already. The moment having past.

Onion shrugged, then in one move, threw the chip bag at Lapis' feet and ran out from under the docks.

Looking at the bag Lapis was...More than puzzled but decided to keep it nearby, further under the docks, just in case Onion returned and wanted it again.

She had been left alone for the rest of the day.


End file.
